Her Little Beethoven
by LemonStar
Summary: ..House Call Universe.. One-shot. It's rare that Beth and Abby are the only two home and Beth is going to relish in it.
**A very short one-shot that I posted on my tumblr and I decided to post it here, too.**

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"What are you doing, Ms. Abby?" Beth asks the four-year-old, who doesn't respond because she doesn't hear her and Beth isn't turned to her so her lips can't be seen and the little girl continues crawling across the living room floor, and Beth knows exactly what she's doing because it's something Abby always does whenever she's playing the old piano in the living room.

With the exception of her playing, the house is quiet, which is pretty typical for a Saturday afternoon with their family. Daryl had gone out hunting, taking Luke with him. Their deep-freezer in the back filled with all of the meats that Daryl has hunted is low – according to Daryl, at least – and he had to go out and try and get some more for it. He had also had Merle come along and Beth won't be surprised if they wind up sleeping out in the woods tonight, coming home sometime tomorrow.

And Maggie came by earlier in the day to pick up Hunter to take him to the farm. She had taught Luke when he was six and now it is Hunter's turn to get horseback riding lessons from her. And in two years' time, it will be Abby's turn to learn.

It's rare that Beth and Abby are the only two home and Beth is going to relish in it. She loves her boys but they – mostly Hunter – can be loud and require constant attention. But today, it's a cool fall day, it's just her and her baby girl and Beth is going to take advantage of the time and try and work on her own music – a habit that has had to take a backseat most days, her family always the priority now.

As she usually always does when Beth plays the piano, Abby comes beneath the piano, and lays down, resting her head on the floor near Beth's foot on the pedals, and she places her ear to the hardwood plank beneath her. Beth smiles faintly to herself as she keeps playing. Her Little Beethoven, she calls Abby in her mind.

They have gotten her hearing aids and she wears them – despite her usual protests – but today, at home, they're not in her ears and Beth's not going to make her wear them. Abby spent the first four years of her life with the world a quiet murmur around her and it's welcoming to her. Beth and Daryl both want her to get used to the sounds of everything around her and it's overwhelming for her most of the time – to go from hearing very little to suddenly hearing _everything_.

But today, it's just them and they're staying home and Abby's world can be quiet.

Beth keeps playing her song, stopping every now and then to write more notes or to erase those she realizes don't fit in as well as she wants them to. And Abby stays laying down, hearing the piano music through the vibrations of the floor. When she had been even younger than she is now, she would do this whenever Beth played the piano. She would crawl beneath the old upright Kimball piano that Daryl had bought Beth as a wedding present and she would lay herself flat on the floor in order to hear what she played.

Before they knew of her deafness, Beth had just thought it was a cute habit Abby had developed. And after they learned of her deafness, and Abby laid down beneath the piano, Beth realized why she did that and her eyes flooded with tears.

But now, it always makes her smile faintly because it just shows her how smart her Abby is. Abby wants to hear her piano music and she has figured out how to do it. Just as Beethoven had done when he lost his own hearing.

She's not sure how long she stays sitting at the piano, playing and tinkering and writing away. But she knows that Abby stays with her the whole time. She would have thought that maybe the girl had fallen asleep but she'll sometimes feel light fingers touching the top of her bare foot as if helping her press down the pedal and Beth will smile as she sings.

When her foot slips from the pedal and rests on the floor, that's a signal to Abby and the girl pulls herself out from beneath the piano and stands up. Beth turns on the bench towards her and they share an identical smile before Beth pulls her mini-me into her arms and hugs her tight and kisses her head.

Beth leaves the piano and goes to the couch, Abby following behind, knowing what's going to happen next because it's what Beth usually does when she's able to find time to work on her music. She writes on the piano and then goes to play it on the guitar to see how it sounds.

They both sit down on the couch, facing one another, both their legs crossed, and Beth adjusts her acoustic guitar in her hands, smiling at Abby, and the little girl beams in response. Beth then plucks a few strings, listening to the notes, reaching to tighten and tune the strings. And then she begins strumming, humming for a moment instead of singing, and Abby reaches her hands out, resting them on the body of the guitar, listening to the vibrations the instrument makes.

And as if she can hear the music it, and Beth, produces crystal clear, Abby smiles up at Beth and Beth smiles at Abby.

Her Little Beethoven.

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!**


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